Jon Baldur Sigurdsson, formerly of the Department of Zoology at the National University of Singapore, passed away in Iceland today. Cynthia Lee who relayed the news said, “He went peacefully surrounded by his son and grand-daughters.”
He was such a story-teller, field biologist, academic and friend. RIP.
To donate via Singapore Red Cross
Source: SRC Press release, 26 Apr 2015, Channel News Asia, 26 Apr 2015 and SRC Facebook page, 28 Apr 2015. Please check the Singapore Red Cross webpage for the latest press release.
To donate via Mercy Relief
Source: “Mercy Relief to deploy disaster response team, launch nationwide fundraising for Nepal earthquake.” Channel News Asia, 26 Apr 2015. For updates, please check the Mercy Relief webpage for the latest press release.
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The MW5202 class of 2015 present their projects at the Singapore Science Centre in a bucket science symposium, which is a tradition of the module – 2014 [webpage, photos], 2013 [webpage, photos].
This year the class used weekly for their symposium webpage, as it provides a better webpage feel. You can see the programme there: scienceismagic2015.weebly.com.
The MW5202-2015 class began preparation on 18 Mar 2015, and had carried out a Wired Symposium exercise by then, and would develop their personal demos over the next few weeks. Andreas Dewanto and myself will observe and grade this final assessment of the class.
It’s a long way since preparations and the chatter on What’s App was voluminous! They have begubn to turn away registrants as the Mendel Auditorium is full. I am looking forward to an entertaining day at the Science Centre for the audience!
The mammal seniors of Otterman Holt did well that evening and the crowd amazed us – 400 turned up (we maxed out parking) within a week of the announcement and enjoyed heartening talks of great clarity and pace.
When I ended the Evening of Biodiversity II with a “Aren’t they lovely?”, Prab Nathan positioned behind the table, caught the audience applauding, nice work!
While searching for photos of teaching, I finally really examined this photo. Wow, we did this last April?
The Evening of Biodiversity II (16 Apr 2014) featured talks by Amanda Tan, Chloe Tan, Marcus Chua, Meryl Theng, Fung Tze Kwan & Xu Weiting of the Otterman Holt, Department of Biological Sciences, NUS. Hosted by N. Sivasothi aka Otterman.
This was the simple announcement I made on Otterman speaks which we circulated to contributors of mammal records in addition to the usual circulation channels. Some members of the nature community observed happily that the crowd included many new faces, which was a happy indication of having reached people beyond the regular community.
The event was storified by Ivan Kwan and photos taken by Prhabagaran Ramanathan are on Flickr.
The first session in 2010 featured Andie Ang, Marcus Chua, Xu Weiting and Chua Yi Teng. Photos from the Evening of Biodiversity I (16 Apr 2010) are on Flickr.
I guess we’ll do this once in four years? 2018 then!
The OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 Combo Update is available for download at Apple Support
‘Instead of developing prime land for other uses, this plots are set aside for park use and complement and buffer the Nature Reserve, providing alternatives to relieve the pressure at nature reserves’ – Mah Bow Tan, 2001.
Buffers to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (163ha, 1883)
Buffers to Central Catchment Nature Reserve (?2,880ha)
Buffer parks around the nature reserves and forest restoration sites (2019)
I will write a new post when the Rifle Range Nature Park opens soon. Collectively, this will all the Central Nature Park Network, a new concept which takes into the account the connectivity between the sites to better safe guard our fragmented habitat patches.
Hop over to nationalbutterfly.org.sg to vote for your choice from the six nominees by end-April.
The Nature Society (Singapore) campaign webpage states:
“The main component to the campaign will be the vote to select our National Butterfly. Singaporeans and Permanent Residents will be given the opportunity to choose their National Butterfly – one which best represents the spirit of Singapore! Six species have been shortlisted by a panel of experts for the public to vote on.
We perceive that the National Butterfly will be an ICON for butterflies of Singapore. It will also serve as a voice for other lesser studied but important insects like bees and beetles that share the same habitat and contribute towards our environment.”
Mingko likes the common rose because it bears the national colours and many of us love the painted jezebel, which looks like a water colour painting, and reasonably common and thus accessible. It is doing well after the dry period and exceptionally so this year. Everyone in Singapore should know this butterfly.
I myself voted for the black and white Idea (common tree nymph) because this is a lovely denizen of our precious forests and seems to float like cloud in the dappled groves of our nature reserves. I first met Idea during an undergraduate field trip and have been enchanted ever since.
If you are a teacher, the webpage hosts a powerpoint resource pack you can download to provide students with some appreciation for butterflies in Singapore.
Thanks to Amy Choong for the alert, and sighing.
Otterman speaks... 